head to head · open source
Payload vs alchemy_cms
Payload has 44,806 GitHub stars, 4,166 forks, 1,127 open issues and last shipped yesterday. alchemy_cms has 905 stars, 324 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Payload leads on adoption by 4,851% (44,806 vs 905 stars). Payload is written in TypeScript under MIT; alchemy_cms is written in Ruby under BSD-3-Clause. Payload has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, alchemy_cms 36%. alchemy_cms was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (cms, content-management-system), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Payload | alchemy_cms | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 905 |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | TypeScript | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 324 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Payload if
- You weight community size — 45K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick alchemy_cms if
- You want the alchemy_cms feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and alchemy_cms fits your workflow better
About Payload
Payload is an open source, MIT licensed headless CMS and fullstack framework, written in TypeScript and built to run natively inside a Next.js /app folder, aimed at developers who want a TypeScript backend and admin panel without signing up for another SaaS.
read the full Payload overview →
About alchemy_cms
AlchemyCMS Alchemy is an open source CMS engine written in Ruby on Rails. Read more about Alchemy on the website and in the guidelines. [!CAUTION] This main branch is a development branch that can contain bugs. For productive environments you should use the current Ruby gem version, or the latest stable branch (8.0 stable). 🏆 Main sponsor ✅ Features Flexible templating that separates content from markup A rich RESTful API Intuitive admin interface with live preview Multi language and multi domain Page versioning SEO friendly urls User Access Control Build in contact form mailer Attachments and downloads On the f…
read the full alchemy_cms overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Payload or alchemy_cms more popular?
Payload has 44,806 GitHub stars and alchemy_cms has 905. Payload has the larger community by that measure.
Are Payload and alchemy_cms free?
Both are open source. Payload is licensed under MIT and alchemy_cms under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Payload and alchemy_cms?
Payload is written in TypeScript and alchemy_cms in Ruby. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Payload or alchemy_cms?
Choose Payload if you want the larger community (44,806 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose alchemy_cms if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.